Tuesday, January 8, 2013

The Hobbit

It may surprise
you to note that, even though I was once quite active in the UNM Hobbit
Society, I have never actually read The
Hobbit.I have read The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, but somehow never got The Hobbit.Therefore I had no bubble to be burst when this film came out; my
expectations were not particularly high because I did think it a bit absurd to
stretch a comparatively short book into three long films.However, I do have to say I found The Hobbit to be a lot of fun.

I saw it in 3D,
which is not an experience I’d like to repeat.I also did not really like the excessive frames-per-second technique,
which to me looked as if someone had filmed The
Hobbit on an iPhone and we were watching it on YouTube.Needless to say, I’m no expert, but it
doesn’t seem like this kind of effect would be the right one for this kind of
film.I appreciate that perhaps a sense
of intimacy was the intended goal, but the result feels very strange to me.

Despite
this—and because I got used to it after awhile—I really did enjoy The Hobbit.Frankly, Martin Freeman seems born to play Bilbo, and while I
haven’t yet finished the book, I’ve read enough to feel this with
certainty.The pacing seemed a bit . . .
odd.It was enough of an adventure that
until the last half an hour or so, I wasn’t bothered by the film’s excessive
length.The whole dishwashing musical
scene struck me at the time as a bit too extended,
but overall the length did not bother me greatly.

I was not
expecting the cameo from Ian Holm or Elijah Wood, and therefore these were
pleasant surprises.I do believe Fellowship of the Ring is my favorite of
The Lord of the Ringsfilms because to me it has always felt
whole and self-contained, even if the ending does feel a bit weirdly
truncated.Some of that feeling of
wholeness and containedness accompanied, I thought, the cameos by Frodo and old
Bilbo, and there was a bittersweet nostalgia that reminded me why I went to the
midnight showing of Return of the King in
the first place—because I had grown to love all this and was loathe to leave
it.

The scale of
the backstory which, having now read the first few chapters of The Hobbit, I understand is completely added in, is
surprisingly large.My friend Aya has
said that it seems like it is no longer Bilbo’s story, and to an extent, that’s
right.It certainly seems at some points
it’s Gandalf’s, and at others, surely it’s Thorin’s.The film (and promotional material) seem to
be stressing that Thorin has been personally wronged by Smaug and The Hobbit seems like his quest.Though not as tall as Aragorn, this Thorin
seems to be sharing a lot of his heroic traits.And I find I don’t mind a jot, given Thorin is the most engaging of the
dwarves (Tolkien would have had it dwarfs).And of course, if anyone can make a hot dwarf it’s Richard
Armitage.0:-)

An extended and
largely surprising (to me) scene at Rivendell of a council of sorts between
Gandalf, Saruman, Elrond, and Galadriel drew the parallels to World War II,
with Saruman arguing for isolationism while Gandalf stubbornly argued to
intervene in Poland (or something).Sadly, as in much of Tolkien’s work, there was a distinct lack of a
female presence; surely that’s one reason Galadriel was shoehorned in.There were certainly some female dwarves and
hobbits present, but I have not yet gotten a sense of what a dwarf princess or
queen would be like.Ultimately, one
assumes, Thorin will have to choose a consort in order for his lineage to
continue; surely Gloin will have to find a wife in order that Gimli can be
born?Of course, Sylvester McCoy as
Radagast the Brown was a scene-stealer.He could have easily gone through more screen time and no one would be
worse off.

In terms of action
sequences, The Hobbit did not let
anybody down (and presumably that’s why it’s still grossing loads at the box
office).The final sequence with orcs,
burning pine cones, Wargs and the Eagles was quite breathtaking and nail-biting
(and, you guessed it, rather extended from the version in the book).Bilbo’s long chase scenes within the mountain
away from odious goblins and Gollum were equally action-packed.And those trolls—what’s with Tolkien and
class, anyway?

I enjoyed the
music very much; tonally, it showed it was linking up with Lord of the Rings, and the singing—which is integral to Lord of the Rings but sits better within
the more childlike Hobbit—fit in very
well.

I definitely
would have seen the film a second time if I’d had the chance, and look forward
to seeing it again, either in the theatre or on DVD.